OVERDRIVE- D.E. DE01 Iceberg O.D. ...open and transparent but with a Brit vibe.

 D.E. DE01 ICEBERG OD.

$105.00 USD

Not a lot is known about D. Electronics other than they are new

apparently independent and have only shown up in a couple of 

online Super Stores in Australia.

The layout is simple enough with output, tone and drive and a 3 way toggle that seems to increase the gain. This could be clipping diodes or even cascading transistors ...or a bit of both.

CONCLUSION

Rumour has it a U.S. branch will open soon. Yes it will be convenient but will the price go up??? My guess is at least $20 more.

It has near transparent sweet voice but with a Marshall vibe that still can push out a bit of punch when pushed. It sounds very upmarket. Impossible not to like. A great first pedal and a second  high gain pedal will be out soon. Damn! ...another temptation ...especially at the price!

OVERDRIVE -AMAZON BASICS Distortion ...unusually good distortion! Now we know why.

 AMAZON BASICS DISTORTION 

Just when I thought it was safe! This was brought to my attention.

$25.00 USD

A line of pedals called Amazon Basics.

This is a  rebranded Nux Mini Core Brownie.

It has long sold under the KOKO label as well so I took advantage of 4 years of video's to choose from.

Over the years the image of Chinese slave labor and junk parts and pedals put together with chewing gum persists, The truth is the parts have to be reliable when your world distributors like Amazon are buying in volume. Using high tech machinery that can do runs of 2000 a day if needed are becoming the norm.

The Nux Brownie at Guitar Centre sells for $50.

CONCLUSION

A fat balzy tone with bit of a Brit sound. Not a lot of sustain but a good basic crunch pedal. If you have a particularly good Fuzz that at time needs some sweetening stacking that Fuzz on this would give you two killer sounds instead of one. 

Finally it is worth noting you can coincidentally buy the NUX Plexi Crunch pedal for $50.00 USD. Yes it is twice the money but it it sounds as good as many OD in the $200 range. 

You can while they are still on sale buy one of 7 different AMT Mini Drive pedals like the S-drive a Soldano-in-a-Box 

...or you can choose an Orange, Engl, or Engl Concord a JCM 800, or a 

 Bogner or Peavey 5150! ...Killer and only $45.00 USD

OVERDRIVE- MASTER EFFECTS Martyr OD ...a Marshall Valvestate-in-a-Box! Crushing!

 MASTER EFFECTS MARTYR OD 

$200.00 USD

This pedal is based off of a Marshall Valvestate 8100 solid state combo amp and rackmount amp from the 90's that had a single 12ax7 preamp tube in the preamp stage. One of a very, very few solid state amps.

CONCLUSION

Well it has ballz and muscle plus!

It has a great 'hard clipper' type sound. The attack is much stronger than a Fuzz but it can sub for any heavy Fuzz!

What's not to like!!!

OVERDRIVE- SKRYDSTRUP RGD DST1 ....$425.00 USD ...WTF !!!

 SKRYDSTRUP RGD DST1 

$425.00 USD

Is this the ultimate OD? A high end drive made in Denmark that claims to have state of the art everything. It is claimed to be a Plexi like high gain OD. With an exquisite EQ.

CONCLUSION

Many pedals use military grade and or NASA spec parts but they do not charge the price of a 3 stage rocket ! This IS NOT an Origin Effects Revival Drive with a manual 3 inches thick.

Perhaps a nice sounding pedal for $225.00 USA.

OVERDRIVE- EAGLETONE Molotov Metal Distortion ...surprisingly good & cheap too!

 EAGLETONE MOLOTOV METAL DISTORTION 

$40.00 USD

A French company with it seems have 14 pedals and a few amps.

They have been around for years yet have almost no videos??? 

A basic layout with a 3 way EQ, volume and gain. A boost rounds out the controls that is switchable.

In order to find any pedals that I have not checked out keeps getting harder and harder. One of the best ways is to go to from country to country and translate the local equivalent of E-Bay and check out bricks and mortar stores and look for local brands.  Overtime I got to know small makers all over the globe even in tiny countries like Estonia who will give me a heads up on other makers.

This is not the first company in France that seems to do zip to sell worldwide. Others in Italy are the same. Oddly many have been around forever.

CONCLUSION

This pedal has more saturation than pretty much any Metal pedal I've heard. It lacks any serious lows and has weak attack so it ain't gonna 'chug'. lol On the other hand it could be useful for the Doom,Sludge, Stoner and Drone gendres. It could be great stacked or simply used in parts of a tune that needs a wall of sound effect.

NOTE: this is virtually the only video. It goes through 9 Eagletone pedals.

             so go to 1:10 to hear the Molotov.

OVERDRIVE- AMT ELECTRONICS Vt-Drive & S-Drive ...serious pro Metal OD's ...$45

$45.00 USD
sale!

 AMT ELECTRONICS Vt-Drive & S-Drive 

AMT are a Russian company that have been around for years that make several series of OD's voiced to knock off pretty much all of classic and gourmet amps. One series has a tube, another has full peramp abilities etc. The bottom line is for anyone putting their OD's from pedal board to input on your amp the mini pedals are all you need. 

The volume gain and EQ and most important the voicing are all the same on both the drives and the pre's.

The 8 mini's come as the C-Drive Engl Concord ...E-Drive Engl ...B-Drive Bogner ...M-Drive JCM 800 ...O-Drive Orange 

..S-Drive Soldano, ... Vt VHT (aka Fryette) and P-Drive Peavey 5150.

I have the preamp versions of the Bogner and it's a  killer. The Bogner has the stereotypical Modern Metal sound. I choose the 2 Mini's that impressed me the most.

DRIVES

The Vt-Drive is a take on Steve Fryettes amps sold under the VHT name that were the 'must have' of the early 90's It is one of the first companies to address the sound wanted for what is now the sound of Modern Metal.

The Vt-Drive is as dead perfect as a clone gets to the original amp. 

There is a side by side comparison of the deluxe model ...the Vt2 which uses the same voicing circuit which put against the actual VHT-Valvulator GP3 and they are 99% identical.

The layout is volume, tone and gain with a switch 

for crunch and lead voicings.

The truth is the AMT mini drives are as good or even better than most of what's out there. Overtime I find certain brands are bulletproof in so much as when they make an OD right they can do it again. I find one OD can be perfect for one guitar or even just for certain tunes. These days having more than just one guitar is becoming normal so even a few OD's makes sense.

CONCLUSION

A lot of barely usable OD's from China cost more. Keep in mind this is the 'Halloween Sale' price

The AMT U.S. site usual wants $100.00 USD. Though if you buy from a Russian store $65.00 USD is more likely. Some are on Reverb now and again. The standard sale price from AMT on these is $65.00 USD. Black Friday, Xmas and Boxing day and just an occasional sale.

The AMT OD's are more than good enough to be sitting on your board for years. The Vt-Drive is fatter and rich and best of all you have the comfort of knowing it is dead accurate clone of the actual amp. The Soldano has that punch in the gut sound. I have the AMT R2 which is their deluxe version of a Mesa Dual Rectifier ...they do not do a mini of it yet ...it has a similar vibe to the Vt-Dtive . If I didn't have it i am sure i would have to have the Vt-drive.

In short pick which one sounds best is up to you. I would have to flip a coin. lol

....tails! the Soldano won! 

It has a much different sound than my other 2 AMT's so it broke the tie

I have a few tunes where the tempo is seriously fast and the parts are very 

busy so I think this will help define the notes better. It has a very tight sound.

The Vt-1 is more versatile and fatter but I already have that covered with 

my other AMT OD's.

Come back in a few weeks when I will give it a 'Hands On' review update.

HANDS ON

Not much to say. It is very tight sounding like I said.

If you do not have any of the AMT OD"s I would not recommend it.

The Vt Drive is better. Another good one is the B Drive.

The sale is over but at $65.00 USD the price is still great value for money.

DELAY- CATALINBREAD Adineko Delay ...a spinning oil can ? actually ...yes!

 CATALINBREAD ADINEKO DELAY 

$210.00 USD

A novel idea started in the 40's by Tel-Ray which later became Morley.

It was spinning disk in a can with oil over the disk. The disc was charged with a static charge and the oil kept that charge from dissipating in the air and a contact pickup picked up the signal which was a mixture of vibrato, reverb and delay.

Catalinbread made a very complex digital algorithm to duplicate it. It is similar to delays using a spinning drum but with a very glassy sound but definitely has a unique.

CONCLUSION

It is definitely a sound onto itself. It is definitely not a typical delay with a distinct number of repeats with significant delay time between the repeats. It does have a very organic natural ambient quality.

I find a drum style delay does bit of both so it is worth comparing. I use the Foxgear Echosex Baby delay and at $150.00 USD it is worth a listen. 

Check out the review it covers all the history of the Binson Echorec it was 

based from. Dave Gilmour put the original on the map.

FUZZ- SEYMOUR DUNCAN La Super Rico Fuzz ...a hot rodded Big Muff ...with every bell and whistle

 SEYMOUR DUNCAN LA SUPER RICO 

It all started with a basic Big Muff circuit and then everything and anything was added. It has both a mid volume and sweep. A switch is voiced for Strat and Hummy.

CONCLUSION

No denying it we have a serious Fuzz here. It is definitely in a the Fuzz as an OD camp.

Aggressive with good attack and sustain and a great mid control.  It is incredibly easy to tweak and voice it to your liking. It is not for the sputter, gasp and squawk Fuzz aficionado. It is for the gigging musician who needs a consistent sound and/or the shredder.

$180.00 USD

OVERDRIVE -WAMPLER Belle Overdrive ... country musics King gets a rival to the throne

 WAMPLER BELLE OVERDRIVE  

$150.00 USD

It is quite simply a tweaked Nobel ODR1. Which is in affect 

a Tube screamer with flattened mids instead of the ts style mid bump.

The Nobel has been on every Nashville players board for about 10

years.

 

The full size ODR-1 is $150.00 USD and the mini is $80.00 USD so it remains to be seen who will want the Wampler.

CONCLUSION

Wampler has a history of many 'me too' pedals that carved out there own niche like his mini Klon the Tumnus that sold so well he made a deluxe version and the Pantheon that is his take on the King Of Tone.

FUZZ- SCATTER ABROAD FUZZ GUITAR WORKS Fuzzy Fox ... cool!

$60.00 USD

 SCATTERED ABROAD GUITAR WORKS FUZZY FOX FUZZ 

I first imagine this is a take on the vintage Foxx Pedals Tone Machine but it is not. It is more like the first ever Fuzz the Maestro Fuzz Tone It is a very simple fuzz with only 10 parts. At first I thought WTF !!!

But then I heard it.

This kind of Fuzz has no serious sustain. It was the kind of Fuzz that the Tone Bender took as it's basic blueprint and found the answer was to use two transistors one to stack on the other.  Perhaps a bit noisy but tolerable. It does however

have a pleasingly organic raw sound.

CONCLUSION

The price is fair. It has about $80 in parts if you buy do it yourself kit. 

I would have expected much more as most buyers would never 

think it had such few parts. Who opens a working pedal. 

Damn few. All considered a cool pedal.

OVERDRIVE- FOWL SOUNDS Sonic Bronchitis OD ...nastiest OD on the entire planet !!!

 FOWL SOUNDS SONIC BRONCHITIS OD 

$200.00 USD

Well it is not too hard to see this is a company devoted to the finer points in making pedals for the Death Metal, Sludge, Drone, Stoner and of course me. lol

This is version 2. The voicing comes from the LM386 chip. Traditional Overdrive makers do not use it and I will quote why. 

It sounds like "Ragged Garbage"

I have not heard it and already I want one!!!

CONCLUSION

The perfect pedal to replace your Tube Screamer or Klon.

I want one!!!!

OVERDRIVE- WAMPLER Plexi Drive Mini ...so NEW the paints wet!!!

$150.00 USD

 WAMPLER PLEXI DRIVE MINI 

The Wampler Plexi Drive has been available in many models for

years. It has always been a contender for a Marshall-in-a- box.

The pedal like it larger models is based off of a Marshall JTM 45

which Marshall borrowed from the Fender Bassman schematic

and modified by using Brit parts and a few tweaks here and there.

It was not until the Plexi that followed it that Marshall had a true original amp.

Still the JTM 45 did introduce the idea of deliberately adding gain to the design. Fender was all about clean and only broke up when the level was pushed far pass what Fender thought anyone would do.

The layout is simple enough with volume, gain and tone. The mid boost is not surprising. The bass cut is added to keep it tight in a band context..

Well with companies like JHS having a new line of very Pro sounding budget pedals and companies like NUX offering pedals as low as $50.00 USD with serious specs you can expect many more companies to follow. I have no problem with manufactured pedals if they are well made and sound great. All three of these companies started with hand made pedals but stopped that long ago.

They discreetly kept their mouth shut when they switched as players just assumed they were still handmade. My point is these companies have had the room to sell pedals cheaper long ago. I expect the idea of going mini on the Plexi Drive had more to do with creating the illusion of a budget pedal to justify bigger prices on their regular pedals. 

Note: Wampler still make the Deluxe but the standard model seems to be replaced with the mini as it has been removed from their site.

CONCLUSION

It really does sound excellent. It pretty much edges out anything in this price range

Being a mini pedal is great for board real estate too. I have 15 Pexi pedals.

I can not count this one out.

OVERDRIVE- CORNERSTONE PEDALS Gladio Double Preamp ...double Dumble Eric Johnson/Robben Ford

CORNERSTONE PEDALS GLADIO DOUBLE PREAMP 

$400.00 USD

Yes it is the ultra of Dumble style OD pedals. It quite literary attempts to create Robben Ford's tone on Ch.1 and Eric Johnson's on Ch.2.

The layout is straightforward with volume, tone and gain. The lack of extra EQ I think is because the

voicings are fixed internally to get as dead onto the two sounds as possible.The tone control is primarily to brighten or darken the sound of your amp to give it a basic Dumble coloration. It makes a lot of sense as it is not a pedal designed to create your own tone but that of a true Dumble.

That said is does have a switch 'comp' to create more saturation and another with 2 voicings. Handmade in Italy this kind of quality and detail does not come cheap.

CONCLUSION

The first Dumble started life as a modified Fender Deluxe amp. When you bought one you would visit Dumble in person and often several times and the basic design would be altered un it was perfect for you. The result is that no two Dumbles are alike. So literally trying to copy 2 specific Dumble owners sounds makes a lot of sense. 

I am not a fan of either player or the Dumble sound so I can not comment on how well this pedal captures the tone. I can only say that in spite of the price these pedals sell very, very well.

Overdrive-SARNO MUSIC SOLUTIONS Earth Drive ...better than a Tube Sceamer, Timmy, Lightspeed, Nobel's, Bluesbreaker, Klon, KOT, Jan Ray, Hot Cake or ...

SARNO MUSIC SOLUTIONS EARTH DRIVE 

$170.00 USD

Every since the Tube Screamer players have been looking for a better transparent type OD. Is this it  ??? I have bought many even the silly priced ones from Japan and simply hated them!

Sarno are a small company under the radar making tube preamps

and a few pedals. Basically handmade pedals that are aimed at those that are never far away from just a good guitar and tube amp. Such subtlety and nuance requires brilliancy! The detail must be obvious but understated.

Usually these kind of pedals are tricked out Tube Screamers so the green paint on this one is a bit chilling. lol

That said it may use an OpAmp like a ts ...But the tone is very 

asymmetrical and has great attack and bite. Things that a TS just doesn't have. I suspect it is based off of a Bluesbreaker schematic but I don't know.

This pedal has become a staple for hundreds of Alt Rock bands across America. A community that quietly took Fenders Jazzmaster and Jaguar out of obscurity. So maybe the Earth Drive has been a well kept secret. As I heard it Nels Cline retired his Klon in favour of it and over night it became a 'must have' pedal.

CONCLUSION

Zero complaints! The damn thing just does it!  It gives you that just right extra gain that is perfect for that just before break up sound without stamping it's foot print all over your guitar and amp. 

When pushed it adds bite you get a really nice medium grit unlike other low gain pedal there is no annoying fizz or a thing where the dirt overtones keep coming in and dropping out. Some guys will use it for an always on pedal. A life saver in situations where your amp is turned down so low you have lost all your tone. I have found other passable solutions and I own some but this hits me as one of the best. Still I am a sucker for the perfect low gain pedal. Like everyone else I tried a decent Klon. I hated it! lol

....I ordered one! So come back in a few weeks for the ...'Hands On' review.

HANDS ON 

It just arrived at my door.

The first thing I noticed was it is built into the steel box that Fulltone uses.

 Nothing is better! 

The kind of sound I am looking for is when you push a tube amp into crunch and then back it off until the crunch is on the border of off. It still sounds clean, but it is warmer, fuller with a bit of sustain and the highs are bright and clean but not even nearing ice picky or harsh.

It took me a few seconds to get that sound!!!

It nails that just before crunch sound ...and it sounds like it is coming from amp in other words the pedal does not sound like a pedal!

I tried on my semi where I do some elaborate flat picking.Total killer!

On other tunes where I am really kicking it with my Metal OD's on parts before and after using it I found it too tame. I found if I take my LPD Lustre which is a Vox AC30 sound and knock off all the lows and leave it's Top Boost sound intact then stack it on the Sarno is the perfect solution. That same combination is also killer for a 'Sultans of Swing' Strat sound.

OVERDRIVE- FENDER Full Moon Distortion ...can Fender make a serious Metal pedal ???

 FENDER FULL MOON DISTORTION 

$180.00 USD

This is Fenders Heavy Metal ...solution? I had to laugh when I saw the name they gave it. Metal pedals often get names with words like Devil or Demon which I will agree does suggest the night but 'Full Moon'??? Yes guys this is the wholesome Metal pedal. LOL Obviously chosen by someone in marketing as he straighten the collar on his new Gucci suit. LOL

CONCLUSION

Well the tone is not bad and sound is full. The gain is a bit tame and the sound is not as tight as you may want for chugging, 7 Strings or even just doing a dropped D tuning.

It has been designed to sound it's best going into a clean amp. That said you can switch it to symmetrical distortion or in plain English turn it into a high gain Tube Screamer to to push an amp set to Crunch. 

It ain't no REVV 3 red but it is a third cheaper. Most serious 

players are using pedals made by makers that specialize in 

Metal or they head for a serious Fuzz.

The price is fair and the build overall is excellent. 

FUZZ- SHOE PEDALS Robert Fuzz ...I revist ...Christopher Ventors Masterpiece

$150.00 USD

 SHOE PEDALS ROBERT FUZZ 

Christopher Ventor has been around and under the radar for years. He currently offers 7 pedals. All are dirt pedals. All are hand made point to point old school made with cherry picked components that are the best of what is what is new or NOS. 

The Robert is named after Robert Fripp who in '69 created both the classic Metal sound and Prog Rock all in one band King Crimson. Robert used a '66 Burns Buzzaround.

It sounded half Tone Bender yet had that wall of sound Big Muff thing happening. It did well but it had the potential to be the must have dirt pedal. But sh@t happens and was left flying low.

Christopher has taken that sound as his inspiration and with his own original design ideas has honed it to perfection. 

We have all had the thrill when bending or doing some aggressive vibrato with an amp dimed and head our note

fluidly jump an octave higher and  just scream! What a thrill.

BUT what if you had a pedal that just wants to do that

even at real world volumes????

WTF this pedal can do!!!!

How has this escaped us? It has been out for over 7 years.

Conclusion

Well C19 ...has put up walls and traps everywhere so ol' Chris has had the biz on hold but managed to get back to me so I will soon have a Robert. Yes I am all paid up and waiting!

2 weeks later:

HANDS ON

Well I just got it. It does not disappoint !!! It does all that the video shows you.

There is one big extra surprise? The tone is to die for ...it is rich and creamy and when you dig in the pedal gives you a nice little growl in a note you bend or add vibrato or whammy too.

I think a lot of guys with just an amp and a guitar they loved would go nuts over this pedal for a leads pedal   ...BUY ONE!

ALL ABOUT ROBERT

The second video is unusual as it has Robert Fripp with one of dozens of King Crimson bands over the years playing 21st Century Schizoid Man. 

He virtually never does his oldies. Every two years he forms a new  band with new songs and they do an international tour usually hitting every continent. Fripp was one of the first artists who went independent forming his own label in 1979. He manages every aspect of the band. Most important ...the' books' lol

Listen closely to the speed and complexity of his playing. This is what Hendrix saw when watching him play in '69 ...and when asked by the media who he thought was the best Rock guitarist he said without hesitation Robert Fripp!!! Also note his sound and approach ..these days nothing unusual...BIG BUT ...listen to every hot player and band from '69'. He is the only guy doing this and having what is obviously a Metal sound....period!!!  Sabbath did not come out until '70. By then if you were 'cool' you had the first Crimson LP. If you were in London you had seen them. I was in London by '71 and played in Prog Rock band Tallis. Things happened very quickly. Every Wednesday I would walk from Shepherds Bush to Hammersmith just to get the New Musical Express and Melody Maker a day early just to keep up.

Check out newer Fripp bands ...this tune is 50 years old. Fripp has worked a minimum of practising without fail every day over that 50 years. He even reheases in complete darkness.

no he is not weird. He wishes to be able to watch the audience and spontaneous react to it's vibe and to be able to conduct the band.

A lot of what I play in my power trio is not too far from style of this tune. I have added a lot of modern elements. One thing I have learnt ...Power and Flash is all very good but make sure if it wasn't there that even without it is a tune that anyone no matter what music they have always loved can still enjoy the tune!

OVERDRIVE-MLC Vanilla Sky ....Look out ...Klon's & Tube Screamer's ...I'm comin' thru!!!

 MLC VANILLA SKY 

The company is in Poland and makes amps and pedals.

$195.00 USD

This pedal has been around for 9 years with a strong cult following that love it. It is a low to medium gain pedal that appears to be used where others would grab a Tube Screamer or a Klon.

In spite of the silly labels the layout is a typical with volume, gain. hi and low EQ. the sound is semi transparent with an earthy character to the highs and lows. the most noticeable thing is a wide mid boost with 

very resonant tone.

CONCLUSION

It is a just be for breakup sound. Great for

chord work. Great when clean is just too clean but dirt may muddy up the sound.

The majority of users use it as a boost.

OVERDRIVE- CHEVTONE Messiah Drive ... the great debate!

$200.00 USD

 CHEVTONE EFFECTS MESSIAH DRIVE 

A very small company in the Solihull Warwickshire UK with it appears just 2 effects and both are OD's. The Messiah is the proverbial Marshall-in-a-Box.

Well the Messiah has reached the v.2 stage with a switch for more

gain. The layout is the proverbial volume, gain. treble and bass.

The usual Hammond B type casing is more than familiar still is  an ideal solution as it it is big enough to fit most circuits and easy enough to read and tweak any knobs.

CONCLUSION

It has nice warmth but could use a bit any more harmonic detail.

It has a real organic charm. I quite like it. 

It does bare comparing to the recent Nux Plexi Crunch I reviewed as the overall voicing is similar. I think the Nux edges it out. The price of the Nux at $50.00 USD doesn't hurt either :-)

Today's Digression

I occasionally review a pedal that blows me out of the water

And I think word of mouth from a few guys who read the review 

will  put the pedal deservatively on the map.

BUT it does not happen.

 After reviewing easily over 600 dirt pedals

I think I can tell when a pedal that is OK but no big deal. The Messiah

is such a pedal. BIG BUT ..this pedal is getting 10 times more hits than 

others. Why???? 

The Shoe Robert is getting modest hits. The sound of the 

Shoe is different than the Messiah and not arguably better

or worse.

BIG BUT ...name me one dirt pedal that a note will sustain 

as long as you do not lift your finger off that note.  

I can name only one ...the Robert!

OVERDRIVE- MJM Guitar FX Luxora ...when is a Tube Screamer is not?

 MJM GUITAR FX LUXORA 

$180.00 USD

Everyone makes a Tube Screamer. ln this case this is MJM's second shot at it as they had the now defunct Phantom pedal.

They did the standard improvements of giving the pedal a kick in the lows and generally fattened it up a bit. All ts pedals start with one of several choices of OpAmp and then add clipping diodes. A Tube Screamer is voiced to give you symmetrical distortion which many love in spite of it not being amp like.This to me is more in the Boss OD-1 camp with tube like asymmetrical distortion. You would be forgiven for thinking it was a Brit type OD.

CONCLUSION

Well it it a valid choice. It is what it is ...it's own thing. It is too far from a Tube Screamer to be one in my book. No I am not a traditionalist as as a rule I hate all Tube Screamers lol. They are impossible to avoid. I own two. One is in this camp in so much as it disguised as something else. In fact I only use it with a Flanger where both are set up to give me a quasi sitar like sound. Another is designed to stacked into a Modern Metal sound to tighten up the sound. If you simply like the sound of the Luxora than compare it to the Reuss FX Back Slider OD. Ruess took another route doing the Boss OD-1 pedal but you can flip open the back and switch to a symmetrical distortion and boost the mids as well. It's $165.00 USD.

FUZZ- JHS 3 Series Fuzz ...the ideal Fuzz Face? ....$100.00 USD

JHS 3 SERIES FUZZ

$85.00 USD

In spite of it being a silicon Fuzz it is tweaked to mimic a germanium Fuzz. It has been voiced to be a classic Fuzz Face. In short to be like Josh's own favorite Fuzz Face.

You get control over the BIAS to add sputter to taste and you also get control over the level of the output. A real Fuzz Face drops in volume when you turn it on. In short if your amp is on 6 it will be like your amp is on 4 or 5 while the Fuzz is on.

CONCLUSION

The ideal Fuzz Face for anyone using a few pedals and/or a board. great sound ...easy to tweak and no level problems.

In fact you can use it to boost the level of your amp.

We do not have the definitive video yet. Each video shows it

being used in 3 definite ways.

OVERDRIVE- ROTHWELL Hellbender ...Classic Brit OD with incredibly tight and precise sound!

 ROTHWELL HELLBENDER

$180.00 USD

Rothwell are a company that has for decades service the Aerospace industry with beyond perfect products for thing like the Space Station.

On one hand must be better than robust and dependable yet serviceable by hand. In space there is no room for bulky parts or tools.

It is a profitable biz but there is often down time and since the owner is a guitarist engineer why not make a few cool pedals?

CONCLUSION

It goes without saying the the quality exceeds even the best made pedals. 

They make other OD the Heartbreaker and the Switchblade have their own reviews.

The cool thing about this it very much a mid 60's Marshall type sound. It is all about a mid gain harmonically rich full and sound. It is not a screaming lead sound nor is it about being super fat or oversaturated. However we all play most of gig backing vocals switching between chords and short single note lines or flat picking. This pedal makes all that a pleasure! This pedal has few equals

OVERDRIVE- FUHRMANN Punch Box ....OCD with more?

 FUHRMANN PUNCH BOX OVERDRIVE

$130.00 USD

From Brazil comes a company that is all about reinventing all the favourites with a no compromise build and a cheap price.

The Punch Box has one foot firmly in OCD territory. They even use a similar casing. To be fair they do use this heavy steel casing for all their pedals.

The layout is familiar with Level, Drive, Bass and Highs with switch with a mid boost.

CONCLUSION

To my ears the overall tone shows very little difference but the Punch Box is noticeably a little fatter. Have 2 way EQ is certainly appreciated. I usually add bass since I am in a 3 piece and it fills it out.

As for the price it is quite good ...but recently Fulltone has dropped the price by $30 so the price is the same.

You might want to wait for a price war ;-)

I have a OCD clone ...or more to the point a total replica

Yes folks a forgery made by Moogoo and sold for $35.00 USD. 

I bought it out of curiosity. I was expecting the usual

thin sounding clone. I put beside my friends old OCD 

and any difference was inconsequential.

OVERDRIVE- NUX Plexi Crunch ...a Plexi-in-a-Box ? ....superb ...$50

 NUX PLEXI CRUNCH 

$50.00 USD

This is part of the Re-issue series of OD's that first came out in 2010.

It is well named. A real vintage Plexi even dimed does not have a really high gain sustain. In those days you got that from your Tone Bender Fuzz. Often a player used a Rangemaster treble booster that would give a honk in the upper mids as well.

Nux have always  made reliable well made pedals. 

Cheaper pedals often do not give you detail in the tone because they do not use high end German, American or Japanese parts. The main thing is to listen carefully because sometimes going for a key part here or there makes a big difference. 

CONCLUSION

What I do hear is a surprisingly solid Plexi sound. 

Do not confuse that with a JCM 800 shredders sound. 

If it gives me that Marshall Super Lead with it's volume on 8 ...I will be ecstatic!

So WTF at this price I will order one.

HANDS ON

I got it. Simply total killer!!!!

UPDATE

APRIL 20/2022

 I have had the NUX for year and half.  It is long enough for the novelty to wear off. It is long enough to even get board with some pedals even if by then you like them but get that itch there is better out there. I own 11 other MIAB pedals. They are all the 'best of' as I have sold as many that weren't that good. Bottom line ...this pedal is great ...as good as all the others that cost as much as 6 times the money. 

The problem is the price almost makes you doubt you ears! 

You shouldn't.

NOTE: Marvel FX ?  Tim Krueger a one man operation 

 unfortunately died July 2, 2022